1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print headmaintenance mechanism for cleaning a print head having anozzle plate formed with nozzles.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known an ink jet type printer for recording images on a print sheet. While a print head formed with nozzles is in a print region and is confronting the print sheet, ink is ejected from the nozzles to print an image on the print sheet. In between printing operations, the print head is moved to a waiting position, where the purge mechanism caps the nozzles of the print head to prevent ink in the nozzles from drying out. The purge mechanism also sucks defective ink and debris from the nozzles to unclog the nozzles. The ink jet printer is also provided with a wiping unit for wiping the nozzle plate of the print head using a rubber wiper blade. When the print head is moved from the waiting position to a position in the print region, the nozzle plate of the print head contacts and is wiped by the wiper blade. The reason the nozzle plate of the print head is wiped is because after purge operations ink droplets can remain clinging to the nozzle plate of the print head. These ink droplets can interfere with proper ejection of ink droplets.